Team Australia has confirmed its seven-sailor line-up for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup, and the roll call reads like a who's who of Olympic medallists, America's Cup winners, world champions and SailGP stars. Yet not one of them has previously challenged for the Cup under the Australian flag.
The squad is led by Head of Sailing Tom Slingsby OAM, and includes Luke Parkinson, Tash Bryant, Tom Needham, Jason Waterhouse, Sam Newton and Kinley Fowler. Between them they carry four Olympic Games appearances, nine senior America's Cup campaigns, 24 world championship titles and 13 SailGP championship titles. Three, Slingsby, Newton and Fowler, were part of ORACLE TEAM USA's famous 2013 comeback win.
The announcement follows a week-long simulator training block on Sydney's Northern Beaches in August, where crew combinations, communication systems and race scenarios were put through their paces as the group began building the shared instincts an AC75 campaign demands.
Slingsby needs little introduction to Australian sailing fans. He's a two-time Olympian, London 2012 Laser gold medallist, nine-time world champion, three-time World Sailor of the Year and three-time SailGP champion. He's joined by Rio 2016 silver medallist Jason Waterhouse, SailGP champion Tash Bryant, 2025 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Champion Tom Needham, and Volvo Ocean Race winner Luke Parkinson.
Rounding out the line-up are Sam Newton and Kinley Fowler, both 2013 America's Cup winners and three-time SailGP champions. Newton adds an eight-time JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship to his résumé.
"It is an incredibly proud moment to announce this elite group of sailors who will represent Team Australia in our campaign for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup," Slingsby said.
"We set out to bring together the strongest possible Australian sailing team, and I believe we have done just that. This group includes Olympic medallists, America's Cup winners, world champions and SailGP champions, but just as importantly, every sailor has been selected for the specific qualities they can bring to an AC75 campaign.
"We have proven winners alongside some of Australia's most exciting emerging foiling and technical talent. Each sailor brings a different strength, from racecraft and flight control to engineering, systems and campaign experience.
"Our first simulator block allowed us to test combinations, sharpen our communication and begin building the shared instincts we'll need aboard the AC75. We made strong progress, but selection is only the beginning. There is an enormous amount of work ahead to ensure we represent Australia at our very best."
New rules will shape this campaign. For the first time in America's Cup history, every AC75 race crew must include at least one female sailor. The boats will also run on battery power, placing greater emphasis on sailing skill, strategy and flight control.
Team Australia represents the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, whose challenge was accepted in May as the sixth entry for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup. Backed by John Winning jr and family, the campaign is led by Chief Executive Grant Simmer, an Australia II crew member, alongside Slingsby and three-time America's Cup winner Glenn Ashby as Head of Performance and Design.
The Road to Naples begins with the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series in May 2027. The winning challenger then faces Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the America's Cup Match in July, a fixture that will carry plenty of interest on this side of the Tasman regardless of who lines up against the Kiwis.
Kayo Sports and Foxtel have been confirmed as Team Australia's official broadcast partners, with every race on the Road to Naples to be shown live. That includes the Preliminary Regattas, the Challenger Selection Series, the Women's America's Cup, the Youth America's Cup and the Match itself.
Founded in 1851, the America's Cup remains the oldest continually contested trophy in international sport.
Each of the seven sailors took a different route into the campaign. Parkinson, 36 and from Fremantle, has been through three America's Cup campaigns without a win, most recently helping INEOS Britannia reach the 2024 Match, and adds two Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, including outright victory with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in 2014-15.
Waterhouse, 34, of Newport NSW, won Rio 2016 silver in the mixed Nacra 17 with Lisa Darmanin and has been central to Australia's SailGP success as a flight controller, despite this being his first senior Cup campaign.
Bryant, 25 and Sydney-based, already has America's Cup-class foiling experience from the 2024 Puig Women's America's Cup in Barcelona, where she co-helmed Britain's Athena Pathway to a runner-up finish behind Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. She's also a trained engineer.
Needham, 26, from Brisbane, won the JJ Giltinan title in his first campaign as helm of Yandoo, becoming its youngest-ever winning skipper, and has AC40 experience from the 2024 Youth America's Cup.
Newton, 40, from Sydney, and Fowler, 38, from Perth, both bring the weight of a genuine America's Cup win from 2013 plus three SailGP titles apiece. Newton is an eight-time 18ft Skiff world champion, while Fowler has raced everything from the Extreme Sailing Series to M32 catamarans.
It's a squad heavy on Cup pedigree but also, deliberately, on youth. The next task is turning simulator gains into results on the water.
